This article compared the proposed clean-power program rate of 11.5 cents per kilowatt hour to generate electricity with a supposed PG&E rate of 9 cents or so. However, if you contact PG&E, you will find out that when unbundling the real rates, the proposed 11.5-cent rate is more than 45 percent higher than the actual current San Francisco rate of 7.884 cents (E-1 residential generation rate). And when you take into consideration the extra surcharges of the clean-power program, you will find you are closer to a 50 percent increase. In Marin County, its green-energy generation rate is only 7.4 cents (with $4 to $5 in added surcharges).

To protect consumers, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission should have voted the 11.5-cent rate dead on arrival, disregarding any other issues. At a minimum, all elderly residents of The City should be exempt from any type of automatic registration in any of these types of programs that will drastically increase their bills. Many older residents would not be sufficiently aware of what is going on to be able to opt out. Whether or not clean power is a part of efforts that are encouraged by the state legislature, anyone who takes advantage of elderly residents risks being charged with elder abuse. And it would make sense if our mayor and district attorney would plan to seek a judicial injunction to protect the elderly, if any of these clean power programs would ever reach the stage of being implemented.

J. Durham,

San Francisco

Around the State, The City, Friday

Ban noncitizen jurors

Is the California government so screwed up that it must provide paying jobs for noncitizens to serve as jurors? Are there so few citizens in California out of prison now that the jury lists have been depleted? What about all the homeless that fill the sidewalks of our cities? At least they are citizens who our taxpayers are supporting. Perhaps they would be good candidates to judge our elected officials who stray from the law.

Myself, in such a situation, I would request to have my trial by the judge, providing he or she was not a noncitizen. The Constitution states that I must be judged by my peers. There are too many unconstitutional laws being legislated and in force already, to where the supreme law of the land has been bypassed to favor noncitizens over our citizens.

The health coverage Obamacare will provide is inadequate. The Affordable Care Act sets up a tiered system of coverage depending on how much one can afford.

The lower tiers only give minimum coverage. It also requires one to spend time searching through the exchanges for the best deal, like buying a car.

Medicare, on the other hand, gives better coverage at a cost around 30 percent cheaper than the medical insurance coverage under Obamacare. So why are we not talking about universal coverage like our sister countries throughout Europe?